In The End

"In The End"
Single by Linkin Park
from the album Hybrid Theory
Working title:	Untitled
Recorded:	1999-2000
Released:	October 9, 2001
Format:	CD, DVD
Length:	03:36
Stems:	Rock Band 3 (DLC) LPConcerts Open Labs SoundSlate Pro
Time signature:	4/4
Tempo:	105.14
Key:	Eb Minor
Live debut:	Unknown
Last performed:	October 27, 2017
Writer:	Brad Delson, Chester Bennington, Joseph Hahn, Mike Shinoda, Rob Bourdon
Producer:	Don Gilmore
Label:	Warner Bros.
Linkin Park single chronology Papercut (2001) In The End (2001) Pts.Of.Athrty (2002)
Hybrid Theory tracklist
Papercut One Step Closer With You Points Of Authority Crawling Runaway By Myself In The End A Place For My Head Forgotten Cure For The Itch Pushing Me Away

"In The End" is the eighth song from the album Hybrid Theory. It was released as the fourth and final single from the album on October 9, 2001, and also became one of their most successful. It's popularity as made it one of the most recognizable songs of the decade, in part thanks to the infectious key intro and the flowing tradeoffs between Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington in the verses. It was described by Chester as a "pure pop song" while Mike said it is one of Linkin Park's poppiest songs.

Background

Work on the song.

The first demo of "In The End", called "Untitled (It Doesn't Matter)", was recorded towards the end of May 1999 and included in a demo CD with "Part Of Me" and "Flower". Mike's notes from the CD said the song was inspired by the period before the band signed to Zomba when they were promised many things by shady people who prey on young bands. It's about how it's important to create music for people you love, are inspired by, and those who equally find inspiration from the band's music, because that's all that truly counts.

"Untitled" was a name the band liked, but decided to change after R&B and Neo Soul singer D'Angelo released a single called "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" in early 2000. Brian Gardner mastered/sequenced Hybrid Theory on July 6th. He noticed they had songs with non-lyrical titles and thought it might be a good idea to change a couple of them so that sparked the decision a bit later.

A demo version of the song was released on the LP Underground Eleven CD. Mike Shinoda wrote on the booklet: "These were the original verse lyrics that I wrote for this song, and the original melody in the bridge. I remember putting this together in our rehearsal studio on Hollywood and Vine, working overnight in a room with no windows. I had no idea what time of day it was; I just slept when I was tired, and worked on this song until it took shape. The first guy to hear it was Rob, who told me (I'm paraphrasing) that this was "exactly the kind of song he wanted us to write."" He added on Instagram, "I had switched from Cubase to ProTools at this point, and was making beats with my MPC 2000 (on the floor). We didn’t have a table & chairs in the room, so I just sat on the floor and worked. The second photo shows all the lyrics and song notes as we wrote"

In an interview with the fan site Linkin Park Web, Mike's answer to what's his favorite Linkin Park song was, "I like “Papercut” because it has a lot of energy and generally sums up our style pretty well. I know that Rob (our drummer) likes “In the End” a lot though he says that one day he was thinking how much he wanted a song that was really true about some aspect of life. And then, the very next day, I played him the beginnings of what I wrote on that song, which included the piano and the chorus, and Rob said it was exactly what he had been thinking and he had never even told me he had been thinking it."

In 2001, Mike talked to ShoutWeb about the lyrics “I tried so hard, and got so far, but in the end, it doesn’t even matter..”: "Those just popped out. I think I was reacting to the things we as a band had gone through in the beginning. The song almost doesn’t know if it wants to be optimistic or pessimistic – the beginning is a little dark, but you can’t tell (lyrically) if it resolves or not. That’s what I like about it."

However, Chester Bennington revealed to VMusic on August 12, 2012 that he didn't like the song at first: "I don't really participate in picking singles. I learnt that after making Hybrid Theory. I was never a fan of 'In The End' and I didn't even want it to be on the record, honestly. How wrong could I have possibly been? I basically decided at that point I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about, so I leave that to other people who are actually talented at somehow picking songs that people are going to like the most. It also gave me a good lesson, as an artist, that I don't necessarily have to only make music, in my band, that I want to listen to. More often than not, something that I like, very few other people like, and something that those people like is something that I kind of like, or don't like at all. And that's cool, it gives me a new appreciation for the songs. But, you know, now I love 'In The End' and I think it's such a great song. I actually see how good of a song it is, it was just hard for me to see it at the time." Now he says "In The End" is a good song that stands the test of time.

Still in the interview to Linkin Park Web, Mike explained how the song came together: "We try not to follow a pattern too much. But I can tell you about a specific song. On “In the End” (since we were talking about it already) I came up with the piano and the chorus music and chorus lyrics. Then Brad came up with the guitar in the verse and we worked on the bassline and composition. From there, I think everybody in the band began chipping in and adding their parts and critiquing each other’s parts. And right before we went into the studio to record it, we scrapped the beat I had originally written for the verse, and had Rob do a new one, which is the one that we recorded."

In October 2000, Mike Shinoda spoke to ShoutWeb about Brad Delson's guitar playing during the song: "He plays full melodies that are only harmonics on his clean guitar that sounds like a keyboard or sounds like a harp or sounds like bells. People have said that it sounds like a hundred different things and they're always thinking that it's not guitar and it is. The whole verse for "In The End" is harmonics. That high-pitched noise is Brad playing."

The bass on the song was also done by Brad. "I remember working on the bass line in a studio, and in the demo, it was like super, the groove was super good. And then it shifted at one point in the studio, and I was like, 'No, no, no, that's wrong, that's wrong.' And it really was an important element to get right because the bass has such a groove in that song. The rap verses are so iconic, and the bridge really, I feel, like, just puts that song over the top. Like that's always the moment that Chester [Bennington] would put the mic out, and the crowd would just scream, scream their heads off. Man, we played for some really loud crowds, and that song is classic."

The Fort Minor song "Get Me Gone" talks about how the label wanted Mike to quit rapping and limit himself to just play keyboards. According to him, this happened while the band was writing the final verses for "In The End". "I don't remember who suggested rewriting the lyrics. At that point we were operating on intuition. We didn't know what we were doing. We just had like feelings about what to try. I think, it was probably like 'hey this is gonna be an important song on the record cause it's the most like a single, it's probably gonna be a single. So we should really try, really try to like, beat any of the... beat the verses.' And when I did it, when I did the final version, I knew that they were like, I felt like they were better and I think everybody kind of agreed. So it was that interplay between me and Chester. And it was kinda the simplicity of it. Yeah, the original version was a lot more abstract and more rappy. It might be out there in the internet somewhere I guess. I will say that I remember our A&R guy from the label coming in and trying to like, tell me what to do and produce it and that was one of the moments where we knew the sessions, like this whole recording process, might fall apart and we were in full on fight then with him and like a couple people from the label for our souls, for our identity because he kept coming in. That was the song where he's like 'I've played it for whoever this rapper and he said he didn't like it and so you should change it.' That was like 'we liked it though.' Like 'this is us.' I respect that rapper, I don't care what that guy thinks of my stuff. He doesn't talk about the things we talk about. He raps about rappy things. I'm talking about like real life and emotions. That's two different things, of course he didn't like it. And that was when, that week or that couple weeks was when he started going to Chester and being like 'you could like have the band all to yourself and you could be the star and blah blah and could ditch these guy.' He went to me and he told I should play keyboards. That was that moment. It was during, when we were like, getting In The End, the verses to In The End right. Very tense time."

Composition

Due to Phoenix being out of the band at this time (1999 to October 2000) to tour with The Snax, he did not record bass on any songs on the Hybrid Theory EP or Hybrid Theory. Brad Delson recorded the bass on "With You", "Points Of Authority", "Crawling", "Runaway", "By Myself", "In The End", and "Pushing Me Away".

Demos

The most common demo for "In The End" was released on four different demos under the name "Untitled." The Hybrid Theory 9-Track Demo CD from January 2000, theHybrid Theory 8-Track Demo CD and Hybrid Theory 7-Track Demo CD from February 2000, and the Hybrid Theory 6-Track Demo from April and May 2000 all share the exact same demo of the song. In this demo, the lyrics are completely different than the final version but the song structure is the exact same, just with a different instrumental take.

In November 2011, Linkin Park released a demo for "In The End" on the LP Underground Eleven CD. This version has a different bass line and different drums (noticeably raw drums) from "Untitled." This demo is easily identified also by the extra bass strums during the piano outro to the song.

On October 1, 2020, the band released this LPU 11 demo as a pre-release track for the Hybrid Theory 20 box set alongside a few lines of handwritten lyrics by Mike Shinoda.

The version of "In The End" found on the Hybrid Theory (Unmastered Studio Finals 5/7/00) CD features a different mix of the song but also contains no strings.

Remix

Linkin Park released a remix of "In The End" on Reanimation in July 2002 titled "Enth E Nd." The track was remixed by Kutmasta Kurt. Motion Man guests with a rap verse on the track.

In 2004 for Collision Course, Linkin Park mashed up "In The End" with "Izzo" by Jay-Z as "Izzo/In The End."

French DJ Malaa released a remix of "In The End" for free download through his SoundCloud page on February 10, 2022. The remix received an official release on September 9th. The announcement read: "I can’t believe Linkin Park liked my version and let me release it officially. Knowing the admiration I have for this group its a dream that comes true. Also you guys been on my back for 6 months about this song 😄 soooo it will be OUT everything this Friday !!! RIP Chester 🙏🏼" He later said, "I remember when I went to their show in Paris in 2008, I could never have imagined to do a remix for them officially ! Huge thing for me !!"

Tracklist

CD Single 1

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1	In The End	Bennington Chester Charles, Bourdon Robert G, Delson Brad, Hahn Joseph, Shinoda Mike	3:38
2	In The End (Live BBC Radio One)	Bennington, Bourdon, Delson, Hahn, Shinoda	3:28
3	Points Of Authority (Live at Docklands Arena, London)	Bennington, Bourdon, Delson, Hahn, Shinoda	3:31
4	In The End (Video)	Bennington, Bourdon, Delson, Hahn, Shinoda	3:36

CD Single 2

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1	In The End	Bennington, Bourdon, Delson, Hahn, Shinoda	3:38
2	A Place For My Head (Live at Docklands Arena, London)	Bennington, Bourdon, Delson, Hahn, Shinoda	3:31
3	Step Up (1999 Demo)	Delson, Hahn, Shinoda	3:54

Japanese EP Single

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1	In The End	Bennington, Bourdon, Delson, Hahn, Shinoda	3:36
2	Papercut (Live at Docklands Arena, London)	Bennington, Bourdon, Delson, Hahn, Shinoda	3:11
3	Points Of Authority (Live at Docklands Arena, London)	Bennington, Bourdon, Delson, Hahn, Shinoda	3:26
4	A Place For My Head (Live at Docklands Arena, London)	Bennington, Bourdon, Delson, Hahn, Shinoda	3:10
5	Step Up (1999 Demo)	Delson, Hahn, Shinoda	3:55
6	My December	Bennington, Bourdon, Delson, Hahn, Shinoda	4:21
7	High Voltage	Bennington, Bourdon, Delson, Hahn, Shinoda	3:45

DVD Single

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1	In The End - Audio	Bennington, Bourdon, Delson, Hahn, Shinoda	3:36
2	Crawling - Video	Bennington, Bourdon, Delson, Hahn, Shinoda	3:36
3	4 x 30 Second - Interview Video Clips		2:00
3a	The Linkin Park Sound		0:30
3b	The Album/Live Sound		0:30
3c	The Band/The Album		0:30
3d	Goals/The Band		0:30

Music Video

The "In The End" music video was co-directed by Nathan "Karma" Cox and Joe Hahn and was filmed at GMT Studios in Culver City, California during a break from Ozzfest on July 12, 2001, between the July 9th show in Camden, NJ and the July 13th show in West Palm Beach, FL. The band worked again with the production company Anonymous Content. Vance Burberry was director of photography.

Nathan Cox said it took nearly three months to convince Warner Bros. Records to let them do the video the way they wanted. "We were successful enough that we didn’t have to do a performance video with skateboard kids running around, even though that’s what the label wanted. It was kind of a battle to get this video made," Joe told MTV.

Despite this, the label still had a problem about the initial concept. "Originally, the label thought it was a too light. They wanted me to give it some teeth. So I created the rain scenario and the cycle of life that would go ugly for a while and these thorns that would come out of the ground and the label eventually bought it and dug what we were doing," said Nathan.

Nathan Cox installed rain piping over the set, where the band filmed for over six hours with wind blowing on them. To keep the mood on the set light, he invited a friend who is in a bluegrass band and a guy with a banjo to play a couple of Linkin Park songs in the sound stage. This can be seen on the Frat Party At The Pankake Festival DVD. A live audio recording of Bryson Jones And The Sweethearts Of The Rodeo All-Star Band playing "Crawling" was included on the DVD.

Nathan Cox jokingly said the only criticism he received regarding the video was because of Joe's CGI flying whale, which people didn't understand. About the whale and the overall meaning behind the video, Joe said, "It’s not like I pulled it out of my ass. It made sense to me. It’s more of an elemental thing. Where when you think of a whale you associate it with water, but it’s a contrast to the environment, ’cause there’s no water in the environment. So it was basically a way to visually connect the ground to the sky to the tower, where we were. When you hear the song, there’s basically a cycle going on in the song. And that’s what is going on in the video, there’s a life cycle taking place from the environment that’s desolate, it’s all dry, and basically goes from that point of there being nothing to the end, where a whole evolution takes place." He further explained, "What initially gave me the idea is that the song doesn't really have a resolution. It starts really empty with piano and ends off really empty. I wanted to go through that cycle, with this desert landscape at the beginning and the end but there's been this evolution and everything's grown."

Nathan added, "The song could be taken in a negative context, this dismal kind of thing, ’I tried so hard and got so far/ But in the end it doesn’t even matter.’ It had this positive tone, but the words were really negative. So the world that they start in is dismal, desert, emptiness, and it starts to rain and then the world becomes a beautiful place."

Production designer Patrick Tatopoulos, who worked on Dark City, Independence Day and Godzilla, built the set and had the idea to design the building in the shape of woman and to have the band perform on the crown.

The inspiration for the video came from the paintings of Alphonse Mucha, who helped shape the aesthetics of French Art Nouveau in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Mucha often painted figures encased in thin, twining stems, which inspired shots in the video where vines from the desert plants extend and wrap around the bandmembers. According to Mike Shinoda, the video was also inspired by the anime film Princess Mononoke. The symbols on the door at the beginning of the video are actual letters from the Mason alphabet.

On the set, there were little stairways with a ledge from which Nathan Cox wanted Brad to jump off. It took Brad three tries until he could land it right and he ended up hurting his foot.

The music video won the award for "Best Rock Video" at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards.

On July 2, 2020, the video passed 1 billion views on YouTube, making it the band's second video to reach 1 billion+ views, following "Numb".

Video Credits

Artist Name: Linkin Park
Song Name: In The End
Directors: Nathan Cox, Joe Hahn
Director of Photography: Vance Burberry
Editor: Mario Mares
Production Company: Anonymous Content
Producer: Matt Caltabiano
Production Designer: Patrick Tatopoulos
Colorist: Paul Bronkar, Dave Hussey
Additional Camera Operator: Ross Richardson
Visual Effects Supervisor: Andrew Orloff
Visual Effects (VFX): Ryan Thompson
Special Effects (SFX): 525 Post

Versions

Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.

Studio

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
In The End	Hybrid Theory In The End Wired-Up 2 Nu Metal 2 8-Bit Rebellion! Now That's What I Call Music! Best Of 2000-2009 Papercuts - Singles Collection 2000-2023	3:36	2000	October 24, 2000
In The End (Demo)	Linkin Park Underground Eleven Hybrid Theory (20th Anniversary Edition)	3:52	1999	November 15, 2011	Different lyrics. Different bass line. Bass note at the end. Different drums.
Untitled	Demos Hybrid Theory 8-Track Demo Linkin Park - Demos From 02-2000 Hybrid Theory 6-Track Demo	3:52	1999		The first CD it appears dates from January 7, 2000. Same lyrics as "In The End (Demo)". Bass line and drums different from "In The End (Demo)". Released on LPFuse for free download on Christmas 2004.
The Untitled	Studio Finals 5/7/00	3:34	2000		The CD dates from May 7, 2000. No strings. Released on LPLive for free download on April 9, 2011.
In The End	Hybrid Theory - Instrumentals	3:38	2000		Official instrumental version.

Note: KIIS FM have played a shortened version of "In The End" in 2015 with shorter intro, no 2nd verse, no 2nd chorus, and shorter outro but we chose not to list it because it was probably self made by this particular radio station.

Remix

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Enth E Nd	Reanimation Redneck Games Redneck Olympics	4:00	2001	July 30, 2002	Remix by KutMasta Kurt. Features vocals by Motion Man. The ending of this version continues in the beginning of Chali.
Enth E Nd (Album Version)	Enth E Nd / Frgt/10	4:05	2001	2002	Longer ending.
Enth E Nd	"Reanimation" Internal Demo	4:03	2001		The CD dates from late January or February 2002. Music stops for a second at the beginning of Mike's first verse. Less distortion. Less prominent echoes on Mike's vocals. Alternate take for the doubled vocal at the end of each of Mike's verses. Released on LPLive for free download on March 21, 2013.
Izzo/In The End	Collision Course	2:44	2004	November 30, 2004	Mash-up with Jay-Z. Samples Jackson 5's "I Want You Back".
In The End (8 Bit Rebellion Version)	8-Bit Rebellion! Ringtones	0:31	2010	April 17, 2010	8-bit version. Verse only.
In The End (8 Bit Rebellion Version)	8-Bit Rebellion! Ringtones	0:30	2010	April 17, 2010	8-bit version. Chorus only.
In The End (8-Bit)	8-Bit Rebellion!	2:16	2010	April 26, 2010	Full 8-bit version.
In The End (2022 Remix)	In The End (2022 Remix)	4:07	2022	February 10, 2022	Remix by Malaa. Uploaded to Malaa's official SoundCloud page on February 10, 2022. Officially released with Linkin Park's permission on September 9, 2022.
Enth E Nd (Instrumental)	Enth E Nd / Frgt/10 Reanimation - Instrumentals	4:02	2001	2002	Official instrumental version.

Live

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
In The End (Live BBC Radio One)	In The End (CD 1) Compilation Hybrid Theory (20th Anniversary Edition)	3:25	January 12, 2001	October 9, 2001	From Radio One's "Evening Session". First transmission date: January 11, 2001. Labeled "In The End (Recorded Live At BBC One)" on Compilation.
In The End / One Step Closer (Live)	World Premiere Of Meteora: Wiltern 3-24-03	9:21	March 03, 2003		The CD dates from March 26, 2003.
In The End	Live In Texas	3:31	August 02, 2003 August 03, 2003	November 18, 2003	Recorded live August 2nd 2003 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, TX and August 3rd 2003 at Texas Stadium in Irving, TX on the Summer Sanitarium Tour.
Izzo/In The End	Collision Course	2:40	July 18, 2004	November 30, 2004	Censored. Even though "son of a bitch" wasn't censored on the studio version of the song, it was on the live version. DVD only. Crowd sings "In The End" chorus (which isn't present in the studio version) at the end.
In The End	Live 8 - One Day One Concert One World		July 02, 2005	November 4, 2005	DVD only.
In The End	LP Underground 7.0	3:43	August 21, 2007	December 5, 2007	Recorded live at the Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto, ON, Canada on August 21, 2007.
In The End	Road To Revolution: Live At Milton Keynes	3:50	June 29, 2008	November 21, 2008	Filmed at the National Bowl, Milton Keynes June 29, 2008.
In The End (Live From Soundcheck)	Compilation	3:31	March, 2007		The CD dates from May 19, 2010. Live studio performance with no audience. Released on LPCatalog for free download on June 16, 2015.
In The End (Live In Madrid)	A Thousand Suns: Puerta De Alcalá	3:48	November 07, 2010	January 25, 2011
In The End	Live In Madrid	3:28	November 07, 2010	April 1, 2011	A Thousand Suns+ DVD. Includes bonus MP3 of the show.
In The End	Live In Red Square	3:51	June 23, 2011	July 21, 2011	Released as a prize for the "Iridescent" "Super-Fun Trading Fun-Cards" game. After all six cards were collected, the person could enter the codes of each card at linkinpark.com to get a free download of the full show.
In The End (Live)	Burn It Down Living Things (AU Tour Edition)	3:39	July 04, 2011	May 18, 2012	From iTunes Live: London Festival 2011.
In The End (Live From Melbourne, 2010)	Hybrid Theory - Live Around The World	3:33	December 13, 2010	May 31, 2012
In The End	Live At Admiralspalast Berlin, Germany	3:41	June 05, 2012	March 29, 2013	DVD only. Living Things+ bonus DVD.
In The End	Live In Monterrey	3:29	September 12, 2012	June 13, 2014	DVD only. The Hunting Party bonus DVD. Live show filmed at Arena Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico on September 12, 2012.
In The End (Live At Download Festival 2014)	Hybrid Theory - Live At Download Festival 2014	3:39	June 14, 2014	August 12, 2014	The Hunting Party pre-order bonus album through linkinpark.com.
In The End	One More Light Live	3:48	June 20, 2017	December 15, 2017
In The End (Live In Moscow, 2018)	Soundcheck Session: Live In Moscow	4:52	September 1, 2018	November 15, 2018	Mike Shinoda solo. Video only.
In The End (Live At Live 8, Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, 2nd July 2005)	Live 8 (Live, July 2005)	4:19	July 02, 2005	May 28, 2019
In The End	Hybrid Theory (20th Anniversary Edition)	3:23	January 30, 2001	October 9, 2020	DVD only. The Fillmore 2001.
In The End	Hybrid Theory (20th Anniversary Edition)	3:26	June 03, 2001	October 9, 2020	DVD only. Rock Am Ring 2001.
In The End	Hybrid Theory (20th Anniversary Edition)	3:25	February 23, 2002 February 24, 2002	October 9, 2020	DVD only. Projekt: Revolution 2002.
In The End (Live In Texas)	Meteora (20th Anniversary Edition)	4:03	August 02, 2003 August 03, 2003	April 7, 2023	Edited differently from the 2003 release. Live In Texas.
In The End (Live In Nottingham 2003)	Meteora (20th Anniversary Edition)	4:30	March 03, 2003	April 7, 2023	Mixed and edited differently from the radio broadcast.
In The End	Meteora (20th Anniversary Edition)	4:06	July 12, 2003	April 7, 2023	DVD only. Veterans Stadium 2003.
In The End	Meteora (20th Anniversary Edition)	6:21	October 29, 2003	April 7, 2023	DVD only. Live In Seoul 2003.
In The End	Meteora (20th Anniversary Edition)	4:52	June 15, 2004	April 7, 2023	DVD only. Live In Manila 2004.
In The End	Meteora (20th Anniversary Edition)	4:35	August 30, 2004	April 7, 2023	DVD only. Live In Denver - Projekt Revolution.

Live

"In The End" has been a staple in Linkin Park setlists since the beginning of their live career. Throughout the Hybrid Theory touring cycle, it often found a position late in the mid-set. The song did not see many extensive changes throughout 2000, remaining in the general same position throughout the year. On a few occasions, Chester would refer to the song by its working title, "Untitled". Beginning in 2001, Chester began to sing a brief vocal outro to the song as it concluded, singing "It doesn't matter... no, no..." over the ending samples. The song continued to be performed at a position late in the middle of the set, often the third- or fourth-to-last song in the show. When the band began to utilize an encore break in mid-2001, "In The End" would usually featured as the second-to-last song in the main set, before "A Place For My Head". Beginning on the Ozzfest, "In The End" was preceded by a guitar intro by Brad. This continued for the better part of the year, until the last show of the year. On the Hybrid Theory European Tour, "In The End" was moved down further in the set before the encore, accompanying a more mid-set position than typical of the song. At the second performance at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, "In The End" was performed acoustically for the first (and only) time. In 2002, the song more or less retained the mid-set position it had on the Hybrid Theory European Tour, with the guitar intro being dropped by this point.

The song returned in a big way on the Meteora touring cycle. Throughout the first half of the year, it served as the closing song of the main set. On Metallica's "Summer Sanitarium" Tour, "In The End" was performed as the third-to-last song in the set, since these shows lacked an encore break. When the Meteora European Tour kicked up, the encore break returned and "In The End" remained as the closing song of the main set. After the Meteora Australian and Asian Tour ended, "In The End" gained a new extended short ambient intro that preceded the song. The song continued to serve as the main set closer in 2004, until the second show on the Meteora International Tour, at the Download Festival, where "A Place For My Head" took the spot as the main set closer instead, pushing "In The End" back one spot. This continued for the remainder of 2004. Beginning in 2004, Brad began to play the harmonics of the intro for "Pushing Me Away" during the second verse of "In The End" sporadically. In July of 2004, "In The End" was performed as its Collision Course counterpart, "Izzo/In The End" with Jay-Z. At the first show in 2005, the Music For Relief: Rebuilding South Asia benefit, "Izzo/In The End" was performed again with Jay-Z. The second show of 2005, Live 8: Philadelphia, featured the studio version of "In The End" being performed, even though Jay-Z still came of during the second half of the set. Fort Minor performed the Reanimation version of the song, "Enth E ND" during their live shows, with Chester even acting as a special guest at the Summer Sonic 2006 shows. During these shows for Linkin Park's sets, the regular version of "In The End" (which featured its short ambient intro from 2003 and 2004) was performed as the second-to-last song in the main set, before "One Step Closer".

As the Minutes To Midnight World Tour kicked up, "In The End" returned full force. On the Minutes To Midnight Promo Tour, "In The End" was performed in the encore for the first time, opening it before "Faint" closed the show. "In The End" moved back to the main set on the Minutes To Midnight European Tour, where it was the third-to-last song. The band introduced three new setlists on Projekt Revolution 2007, where "In The End" saw a little movement amongst the three sets. Set A had the song as the second song in the encore, and in both Set B and Set C, the song was featured as the second-to-last in the main set. In the unofficial Set D, "In The End" was the third-to-last song in the main set. It remained in this positions for the rest of 2007. The band introduced another three new setlists to kick off 2008, where "In The End" was the second-to-last of the main set in Set R and Set T, and third-to-last before "A Place For My Head" in Set S. On the second Minutes To Midnight European Tour of 2008, the band introduced another three sets, where "In The End" was second-to-last in the main set for all three. On the Projekt Revolution 2008 iterations of these sets, "In The End" remained in the same positions in all sets except Set X, where it closed the main set instead. In 2009, the song remained as the second-to-last song in the main sets.

On the A Thousand Suns World Tour, "In The End" became a consistent encore song. For the first leg of the tour, the A Thousand Suns South American Tour, "In The End" was the second-to-last song in the encore. It moved down a slot when "Bleed It Out" was moved up from the main set to the last position in the encore on the A Thousand Suns European Tour. In Set B-1 (which did not appear until the very end of the tour), "In The End" was moved down to the second-to-last song of the main set. These positions in Set A and Set B stayed consistent for the rest of 2010. In 2011, the song remained in its positions in Set A and Set B, and was in the same position as it was in Set A in the new set, Set C: third-to-last in the encore. In Set C-6, the song was second-to-last in the encore. On the A Thousand Suns European Tour, the song remained in the general positions from the past three sets. In the two new sets, the song was the third-to-last song in Set D, and third-to-last in the encore in Set E. This was consistent for the rest of the A Thousand Suns tour.

"In The End" continued to be performed in the encores of the Living Things cycle. On the first European Tour, "In The End" found its way into the encore of the headlining set, and the fourth-to-last position in the festival set. On the Honda Civic Tour, three new setlists debuted that would remain consistent for the rest of the World Tour. In Set A and Set C, "In The End" was performed as the second song in the encore, whereas it was the second-to-last song in the main set in Set B. The song remained in these general positions for the rest of the Living Things tour. At the band's performance at the iHeartRadio Music Festival, a shortened version of "In The End" opened the show with an extended piano intro, being the first time the song had been the opener of a set. At the headlining show in Melbourne, Victoria on the Living Things Australian and New Zealand Tour, the band did something unique: they gave the crowd a choice of songs in which they wanted to hear. The choices were "In The End" and "A Place For My Head", the latter of which was performed. This made it the first time since Wantagh, New York in 2001 that the song was not performed at a full headline show.

"In The End" saw the least amount of movement during The Hunting Party World Tour. Throughout all of 2014, it was the second-to-last song in the main set before "Faint". In 2015, the song remained in that position in Set A, but moved down one step under "A Place For My Head" in Set B. It remained in the second-to-last spot in the main set on the full version of the U.S. Festival setlist in the summer of 2015. On sets that did not feature an encore, the song was the fifth-to-last in the set.

The band began giving the crowd a main role in the song during the One More Light World Tour, debuting a new "Pause Version" of the song. The entire band would stop playing the song at random points of the song (often the first verse of the first chorus), letting the crowd sing the entire part before the band kicked back in. The band changed where they would pause at every show, writing down "Keep 'Em Guessing" next to the song on the physical setlists. Linkin Park performed an impromptu stripped down version of the song at their Grand Central Station Pop-Up show in response to fans chanting for the track, being the first time Mike solely played piano on the track and the first time the song was performed in that form. At the Hollywood Bowl tribute show, "In The End" closed the main set and was one of the few songs that didn't feature a special guest. Instead, Mike relied on the crowd to sing Chester's parts.

Mike played a piano version of "In The End" during his Post Traumatic Tour, usually having the crowd sing the choruses. Sometimes, he would sing harmonies during the final chorus of the track with the crowd. Mike began playing a short piano intro to the song during the Asian Leg of his tour, often telling a story about Chester or an experience he had with Linkin Park or in life before starting the song. He never starts the song without having the crowd cheer for Chester. At the Berlin show, Mike brought a fan on stage to play the piano during "In The End". He joined him during the bridge and last chorus, playing the vocal melody. As part of a challenge to perform part of every Linkin Park album during the Manila show, he rapped the first verse of "Enth E Nd" in lieu of the second verse.

Variations

Linkin Park

Last Updated: August 22, 2018

Type	Description	First Played	Last Played
Intro	Guitar Intro	June 8, 2001	November 17, 2001
Intro	Short Ambient Intro	November 15, 2003	August 15, 2006
Intro	Keyboard Intro	September 22, 2012	September 22, 2012
Outro	Vocal Ending	December 17, 2000*	March 2, 2002
Alternative	Acoustic	December 9, 2001	December 9, 2001
Alternative	Shortened; No Bridge	September 22, 2012	September 22, 2012
Alternative	Pause Version	May 6, 2017	July 6, 2017
Alternative	Stripped Down	May 16, 2017	May 16, 2017

Dates marked with an asterisk (*) indicates first known appearance of the variation. The date may not be the exact debut or final performance of the variation.

Mike Shinoda

Last Updated: April 28, 2020

Type	Description	First Played	Last Played
Intro	Piano Intro	May 12, 2018	August 31, 2019
Ending	Hard Ending	June 30, 2018	August 7, 2018
Alternative	Piano Version	August 7, 2018	September 8, 2019
Alternative	w/ 'Enth E Nd' Verse 1	September 6, 2019	September 6, 2019

Live Guests

Last Updated: September 27, 2015

• Benjamin Chandler (replacing Brad Delson)
• Michael Einziger (Incubus)
• Travis Barker (Blink-182) (Rehearsal Only)
• Warren Willis (replacing Joe Hahn)

Awards and Nominations

Year	Award	Category	Status
2002	Billboard Music Awards	Modern Rock Track Of The Year	Nominated
2002	MTV Video Music Brazil	Best International Video	Won
2002	MTV Video Music Awards	Best Rock Video	Won
2002	MTV Video Music Awards	Video of the Year	Nominated
2002	MTV Video Music Awards	Best Group Video	Nominated

Personnel

Linkin Park

• Chester Bennington: vocals
• Rob Bourdon: drums, backing vocals
• Brad Delson: guitars, bass, backing vocals
• Joseph Hahn: records, sampling, backing vocals
• Mike Shinoda: emcee, vocals, beats, sampling

Track 1

• Written by Linkin Park
• Produced by Don Gilmore
• Mixed by Andy Wallace
• Executive Producer: Jeff Blue
• From The Warner Bros. Album Hybrid Theory
• Available on Cassette and Compact Disc

CD 1

Track 2

• Produced by Miti
• Engineered by Jamie
• Released by Arrangement with BBC Music
• From Radio One's "Evening Session"
• First Transmission Date: January 11, 2001

Track 3

• Produced for Radio 1 by Andy Rogers
• Engineered by Simon Askew
• Released by Arrangement with BBC Music

In The End Video

• Video Directed by Nathan Cox and Mr. Hahn
• Produced by Matt Caltabiano

CD 2

Track 2

• Written by Linkin Park, Mark Wakefield & Dave Farrell
• Produced for Radio 1 by Andy Rogers
• Engineered by Simon Askew
• Released by Arrangement with BBC Music

Track 3

• Written by Mike Shinoda, Joe Hahn, Brad Delson
• Mixed & Produced by Mike Shinoda

Lyrics

Album Version

(It starts with one)
One thing I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme
To explain in due time
All I know
Time is a valuable thing
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings
Watch it count down to the end of the day
The clock ticks life away
It's so unreal
Didn't look out below
Watch the time go right out the window
Trying to hold on but didn't even know
Wasted it all just to
Watch you go
 
I kept everything inside and even though I tried, it all fell apart
What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time when I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
 
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
 
One thing, I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme
To remind myself how
I tried so hard
In spite of the way you were mocking me
Acting like I was part of your property
Remembering all the times you fought with me
I'm surprised it got so (far)
Things aren't the way they were before
You wouldn't even recognize me anymore
Not that you knew me back then
But it all comes back to me
In the end
 
You kept everything inside and even though I tried, it all fell apart
What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time when I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
 
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
 
I've put my trust in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this
There's only one thing you should know
 
I've put my trust in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this
There's only one thing you should know
 
I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn’t even matter

Untitled

It starts with one / and multiplies 'til you can taste the sun
And burned by the sky you tried to take it from
But, if it falls, there's no place to run
Crumbling down / it's so unreal
They're dealing you in to determine your end
And sending you back again to places you've been
And bending your will / 'til it breaks you within
And, still, they fill their eyes
With the twilight through the skylight
And the highlights on a frame of steel
See the brightness of your likeness
As I write this on pad with the way I feel
Hear the screaming in my dreaming
As it's seeming that you played your part
Like you're heartless, take apart this
In the darkness / but I know that I've tried so hard

I tried so hard / and got so far
But, in the end / it doesn't even matter
I had to fall / to lose it all
But, in the end / it doesn't even matter

I've looked down the line / and what's there is not what ought to be
Held back by the battles they fought for me
Calling me to be part of their property
And, now, I see that I get no chance
I get no break / fakes and snakes quickly lead to mistakes
And, as the tightrope within / slowly starts to thin
I can only hope that they close their eyes
To the twilight through the skylight
And the highlights on a frame of steel
See the brightness of your likeness
As I write this on a path through the way I feel
Hear the screaming in my dreaming
As it's seeming that you played your part
Like you're heartless, take apart this
In the darkness / but I know that I've tried so hard

I tried so hard / and got so far
But, in the end / it doesn't even matter
I had to fall / to lose it all
But, in the end / it doesn't even matter

I put my trust / in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this / there's only one thing
You should know

I put my trust / in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this / there's only one thing
You should know

I put my trust / in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this / there's only one thing
You should know

I tried so hard / and got so far
But, in the end / it doesn't even matter
I had to fall / to lose it all
But, in the end / it doesn't even matter

Gallery

• 

  Single

• 

  Disc 1

• 

  Disc 2

• 

  Japanese EP

• 

  Digipak DVD

• 

  Amaray DVD

• 

  UK VHS

• 

  US VHS

• 

  In The End (2022 Remix)

• 

  Lyric sheet

• 

  Poster

• 

  Poster

• 

  Malaa Remix promo image

• 

  Noize 2

• 

  Wired-Up 2

• 

  Wired-Up 2 with MTV logo

• 

  Nu Metal 2 (French version of Wired-Up 2)

• 

  Live 8: One Day, One Concert, One World

In Other Media

• "In The End" is featured in the 1st episode of Season 5 of the TV series The Challenge, titled "Hang Man".
• "In The End" is featured in the 8th episode of Season 11 of the TV series Hinter Gittern - Der Frauenknast, titled "Dumm Gelaufen".
• "In The End" (in both studio and 8-bit versions) is featured in Linkin Park's 2010 videogame 8-Bit Rebellion!.
• "In The End" was released in 2011 as part of a DLC for the 2010 videogame Rock Band 3.
• "In The End" was released in 2015 as part of a DLC for the 2013 videogame Rocksmith 2014.
• "In The End" is featured in the 2nd episode of Season 14 of the TV series American Dad, titled "Paranoid Frandroid".

Cover Versions

Myron Littman and Shane Hunter of Silent System recorded a cover of "In The End" circa 2000-2001. Shane Hunter said, "I hitch-hiked from Lacombe, Alberta Canada to Napa Valley, California (near San Francisco) that winter, to record this - and to find myself as a man. Good times." The song is currently available on Hunter's YouTube channel.

Christian parody rock band ApologetiX recorded a version of "In The End" named "Corinthians" for their 2002 album Grace Period. The track was also included in their compilation AplogetiX Classics: 2000's. On their website, J. Jackson, the group's vocalist, wrote: "I got the idea for this song in the shower, and I remember working on it right after we bought our used 2000 Dodge Caravan, and also on the street where my wife's grandmother used to live. Some Linkin Park fans have taken offense at the fact that we spoofed "In the End." They ask why we felt it necessary to change the words to what they consider to be a perfectly good song both musically and lyrically. Granted, there are many, many songs that we spoof that have appalling lyrics in their original form. But that’s not the primary reason we spoof them. We do this because we specialize in parodies. It's a talent God has given us, and we like to spoof all forms of music. We're not saying that Linkin Park’s original version is bad or immoral, although it is pretty sad. The singer is bitter and despondent (“in the end, it doesn’t really matter") over his former girlfriend/lover who treated him bad. In the end, nobody wins in that song. When we decided to spoof that song, I thought about that song and how both of them probably thought they had loved each other at one time in the past, and in the end, neither one really did; she treated him wrong, and he ends up bitter with nothing really good to say about her. I thought about our concept today of love and how it’s so different from what the Bible says real love is like. Real love is patient, kind, isn’t jealous, doesn’t keep a record of wrongs, etc. It's a startling contrast and that makes for good parody. Plenty of people like our parody, "Corinthians," but it’s O.K. if you don’t. We understand your feelings (if it hurts you when you think somebody is making fun of Linkin Park, imagine how we feel as millions make fun of Jesus Christ and Christianity), but we did want you to know that we're not trying to make fun of Linkin Park or say that their original song isn’t good."

American Christian metalcore act Colossus recorded a cover of "In The End" which is available on their MySpace page. The track wasn't included on any of their albums.

Brazilian alternative rock band NX Zero sang the chorus to "In The End" in the middle of one of their songs during a show at the Radio MIX FM Theater in São Paulo on July 14, 2009.

Before Linkin Park took the stage at Rock In Rio Lisboa V on May 26, 2012, Fred Durst gave a shout out to Linkin Park during the Limp Bizkit set and sang the chorus of "In The End".

Brazilian pop rock band Scarcéus recorded a version of "In The End", titled "No Final", with Guilherme de Sá (of Rosa de Saron) for their 2012 live DVD Rock é Pedra, Amor é Love.

French melodic hardcore band Debunk recorded a cover of "In The End" which was uploaded to their YouTube channel on June 21, 2012.

Chicago-based post-hardcore group For All I Am uploaded a cover of "In The End" to their YouTube channel on January 03, 2013 as part of the promotion for their debut full length album Skinwalker.

Dutch DJ Hardwell played a mash-up of "In The End" and Pitchblack's "Cosmic Dark" as part of his set at various shows in 2016.

Other Uses

• The Without A Trace theme and surrounding score composed by Peter Manning Robinson is loosely based on Linkin Park's "In The End".
• This song was sampled by Juicy J in the song "Smoke Dat Weed" on the album "Chronicles of the Juice Man" released in 2002.
• This song was sampled by Krayzie Bone in the song "Hard To Let Go" on the album "Lyrical Paraphernalia" released in 2010.
• This song was sampled by Tko Capone in the song "3rd Gear" released in 2012.

President Trump Campaign Video Controversy

In summer 2020, American President Donald Trump began using the Mellen Gi & Tommee Profitt remix of the song for his campaign. On June 20, Trump played it before walking on stage in Tulsa, Oklahoma, his first rally since the COVID-19 pandemic began.. There was a widespread condemnation of the song being used by Linkin Park fans, but the band did not issue a statement.

On July 18, Trump posted a campaign video to Twitter (originally posted by White House social media director @DanScavino and reposted by Trump) featuring the song which received a lot of attention almost immediately. According to Huffington Post, "The soundtrack of the video was a version of the song by Fleurie, Jung Youth and Tommee Profitt; it begins quietly and ominously, with flashes of Democrats cast in grayscale color filters. Then the energy of the song picks up, and the video shows clips of Trump rallies, factories, fighter jets and the president at the Lincoln Memorial. It was apparently made by Trump supporters and posted on Twitter." Linkin Park reported the video for a copyright violation as they still own the song even with it being a cover, and they issued the following statement: "Linkin Park did not and does not endorse Trump, nor authorize his organization to use any of our music. A cease and desist has been issued." The video then showed, "This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner." Variety reported, "The Lumen database of DMCA takedown notices shows a July 18 filing from Machine Shop Entertainment, Linkin Park’s business arm and management company, formally requesting the removal of the video under the U.S.’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act law." Joe Hahn reposted the takedown on his Instagram story.

Artist Jung Youth, who appears in the cover, tweeted, "Fuck trump!!!! Def do not approve this usage of my music just FYI", "Def would never approve this. Already let my lawyer know as well", "I am absolutely disgusted to see music I worked on be used in this way without my approval. Fuck that!!", "Never thought I would have to tell the president not to play my music but HEY BUDDY U DIDNT LICENSE THIS AND I WOULD NEVER APPROVE IT. Unacceptable", and "Earlier today I found out that trump illegally used a cover song that I am part of in a propaganda video which he tweeted...anyone who knows me knows I stand firmly against bigotry and racism. Much love to everyone in the twitter community who helped get the video taken down fr!!".

Twitter, in a statement to The Guardian, said, "We respond to valid copyright complaints sent to us by a copyright owner or their authorized representatives."

External Links

• In The End (Music Video): LPTV | LPTV2 | WBR | WMG | MTV | VK
• In The End (Lyric Video): LPTV
• In The End (The Comedy Jam - Awkwafina and Chester Bennington): Comedy Central